Waterbury, VT – The American-Canadian Tour (ACT), in collaboration with the New London-Waterford Speedbowl, Seekonk Speedway, and Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park, has announced the creation of the Southern New England Tripleheader for the 2016 stock car racing season. The three-event series will match up the best of the three track's weekly racers with the stars of the ACT Late Model Tour.

The Tripleheader will be held on three unique race tracks – the 1/3-mile New London-Waterford Speedbowl, Seekonk Speedway's ¼-mile bullring, and the 5/8-mile high banks of Thompson Speedway. The series includes a special $7,500 point fund for local weekly teams which participate in all three events. The events will also award championship points for ACT competitors as part of their $30,000 Championship point fund, which includes $10,000 for the 2016 ACT Champion.

"We had great support from local race teams for the final event at Thompson during the World Series last fall," ACT President Tom Curley said. "The three Southern New England tracks – New London-Waterford, Seekonk, and Thompson – have become an important addition to our ACT weekly business model over the past decade. This program of three races, tied together with an independent point fund, should be lots of fun to follow for southern New England Late Model fans and teams throughout the 2016 season."

The ACT Late Model Tour previously raced at both Seekonk and New London-Waterford on an annual basis in the mid-to-late 2000s. Thompson hosted the Tour for the first time in 2015, which resulted in an emotional win for eight-time ACT Champion Brian Hoar. Thirty-five teams entered the inaugural event, of which 14 were local Thompson teams. The event's success brought the promoters from the three ACT affiliate tracks together to create the Southern New England Tripleheader. All three tracks follow ACT rules in their weekly Late Model divisions.

"We are proud to showcase our Late Model competitors in ACT's Southern Tripleheader," Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park General Manager Josh Vanada said. "This is a great cooperative effort by all three tracks spearheaded by ACT. We are excited to see the impact that this will have on our competition level and on our ACT event at the World Series."

The opener of the Southern New England Tripleheader will be a 100-lap event on Saturday, May 21 at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl. The last ACT event at New London-Waterford was held in October 2010 and was won by Joey Polewarczyk, Jr.; the #97NH team also won the last ACT event at Seekonk Speedway in August 2007. Seekonk's 150-lap Tripleheader event will take place on Saturday, July 16. The final event, a 75-lap contest, will take the green on Saturday, October 16 as part of Thompson's annual World Series of Speedway Racing and will also be the ACT season finale.